Nursery World - A child referred to social services every 49 seconds

Councils warn that they are struggling to cope with an increase in demand for support as one child is referred to social services every 49 seconds.

The latest Department for Education (DfE) figures show there were 646,120 referrals to councils’ children’s services during 2016/17, an increase of 4 per cent on the previous year.

According to the Local Government Association (LGA), the figures equate to 1,770 referrals a day, or one child every 49 seconds.

The DfE figures also show that more than 500 child protection investigations were started on average each day in 2016/17, increasing from 200 a decade ago.

The LGA, which represents 370 councils across England and Wales, warns that social workers are struggling to cope with the rising demand for support.

It says the figures reinforce the ‘urgent need’ for the Government to use the upcoming final Local Government Finance Settlement to address the £2 billion funding gap in children’s services by the end of the decade.

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